Enyewe running and fencing a decent sized shamba is very rewarding and keeps getting better with time .

It is fascinating to come back to the shamba after a few weeks only to find the things you planted there growing nyweee slowly but surely. No wonder God made it the first profession in Eden.

What I love the most is when a plant/seedling/shrub/tree has "shikad" to the point where it is self sustaining and requires no more watering, whether there is rain or drought.

I remember when I was first hunting for a hibiscus for my DC garden. I found one of those roadside guys who attempted to sell me some. When he told me the price, I laughed. When I told him my counteroffer, he laughed even harder. So I began to head to the car.

As I left he called me back and said he had some old dying one that he was throwing away that he could sell me at my price. When he showed it to me we both laughed. It was tiny, had three very feeble stems, the leaves on it were yellow and it surely was on its deathbed. I offered him half of my original offer for it and he agreed.

Today, less than 8 months later, you will be shocked if you were to see it in my garden. It has even outpaced the other bigger and healthier hibiscus plants I planted much earlier and is blooming frwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa like a nonsense. Incredible blooms with very little watering. Such things are very enjoyable to experience.


Kwa shamba huko mashinani the planting gets addictive kabsa. You start pole pole..planting moja moja, planting the live fence (always a struggle in the beginning), planting a tree here and a shrub there. After a few months as you see them "shika" and blossom, you are hooked! The shamba keeps pulling you to go inspect it every few weeks and that pull is irresistible.

And it is refreshing to know planting trees and shrubs and a live fence are cheap but dramatically effective capital improvement moves on your shamba. Just like investing in DC...least cost for the highest upside compared to any other capital investments

-- You are boosting security
-- You are changing the microclimate in and around the shamba
-- Preventing erosion, increasing the water retention rate of the soil and so much more as detailed in the posts before this one.
--Boosting oxygen and general health of everything all around you

Isitoshe, it is very relaxing and rewarding to see the fruit (pun intended) of your labour take shape slowly over time. Slowly but surely. Planting fruit trees sasa hivi pole pole. In 3-5 years time I will be vunaring them nyweee for a very tiny investment.



The possibilities and opportunities with a decent size shamba are endless. And when retirement beckons, huyooo you move to your modest bungalow (solar powered 100% of course) hapo and enjoy easy days far away from the petrol fumes, siasa duni, traffic jams, noise and lockdowns/masks/sanitisers of the city. Life cannot surely get better than that .

NIMESEMA!

@Gathige are these the types of fence poles (green coated) you were saying are useless?

Yes.

I admire this Ugandan chap. Has built a beautiful home on his farm in the bush.
But why carry a spear around though?

[quote=mmarto]@amorphous

Good sharing. I've been doing a lot of shrub/flower/fruit/tree planting in my digs for the last 5 years. I must say it is really fulfiling to see the labour of one's hands finally begin bearing fruit. I've tried to single indigeneous shrubs and fruits. I can share a few photos but sharing it here is a long difficult process i made to understand.

Am finally putting up the house that will find a mature garden/enviroment in place. I was there over the last 3 weeks and environment is so fresh and didn't feel like coming back to nai.

[/quot

That's great. Also add some food crops too. Eating own grown food is like printing own money legally.

This is very nice. The environment looks serene and those fruits😍😍. Kudos

It is really fulfiling when the little steps of trials in planting different shrubs and fruit-trees come into maturity. The theme for the shrubs are all indigeneous trees, except like 3 exotics. I have planted the following fruits; 1. Mudberry 2. Peach 3. Apple 4. Guava 5. Gooseberry 6. Kiwi 7. Orange 8. Tangerine 9. lemon 10. pawpaw 11. Raquort 12. Rasperry 13. Pomegranate 14. Passionfruit

@amorphous is this pawpaw the mountain variety? i.e the one with red/orange flesh

We are thanking God for the recent rains, jameni.
All the fruit trees, live fence and shamba in general are now well watered.
As I said earlier, planting fruit trees and a live fence is one of the cheapest, easiest and most effective ways to increase the value of your shamba.
I hope this rain continues all the way to march and beyond!
Meanwhile, I am also planting a ring of cypress around the shamba just inside the fence line. Call it my long term retirement plan After 20 years one cypress will be worth hundreds of thousands after milling. Wacha tujipange jameni, time and life waits for no man or woman!

Vachellia xanthophloea formerly Acacia xanthophloea because the Australians claim all Acacias (can you believe that?).

Anyway just go KEFRI Muguga/ or/ Tree Bio-tech in Karura (entry via Kenya Forestry HQ opposite CID Kiambu road) ask for 'Naivasha Acacia'.

Also called yellow barked acacia/fever tree/Murera(kikuyu)/ Olerai(maasai). Faily easy to grow from seed and are very fast growers. You also won't walk barefoot on your lawn as they keep dropping the thorns.